Take To The Skies
by ChrisfromMars
Summary: What if there were more gods than just the Olympians? What if the Milky Way isn't alone out there? What if Gaea was protecting us all along from these "other gods". Maybe not, but Leo is building a magical observatory to find out. There isn't much time, but a lot an happen in a few seconds. What will Leo find? Dare to find out, but sometimes ignorance is bliss.
1. Frostbite and Sunburn

Prologue.  
>It's hard to visualize nothing. The second you imagine nothingness, you fill it with something. Yet here I am, drifting in absolute silence. <em>Am I dead?<em> I think. There's no way _that's_ going to happen. Not unless I let it. It's often said that humanity will need an enemy greater than itself just to survive, and here we are. It's the actions of every individual person that decide the outcome. I focus on the only thing I can, my memories. I almost laugh. _And it was all going so well._ I'm drifted through memory lane, back to the stories I heard about what happened three years ago.

Chapter One: Frostbite & Sunburn

August 1st, 2014, 8:46 A.M. -Half Blood Hill  
><em>Festus became an indistinct ball of fire in the sky-a second sun- growing smaller and hotter. Then, in the corner of Jason's eye, a blazing comet streaked upward from the ground with a high pitched, almost human scream. Just before Jason blacked out, the comet intercepted the ball of fire above them. The explosion turned the entire sky gold.<em>

August 2nd, 2014, 5:47 A.M. -The roof of Cabin One, Camp Half Blood.  
><em>Piper and Jason stayed on the roof until dawn broke, and Piper started to believe that they could have a fresh start. It might even be possible to tell a new story, in which Leo was still out there. Somewhere...<em>

December 21st, 2015. 5:00 P.M. -Somewhere above the Himalayas.  
>Nico's dark brown eyes flew open. <em>It's so bloody cold<em> Nico thought bitterly. Nico sat bolt upright, one glance at his surroundings and he immediately knew what had happened.

"Dammit Zeus!" Nico screamed."  
>"Just because your still mad at Apollo doesn't mean you have the right to vent your anger on Will!"<p>

There was thunder in the distance. Nico decided it was best not to verbally scold Zeus again, probably for at least one or two decades. Nico's eyes flitted over everything around him, taking in details like a rapid fire camera thanks to his ADHD. They were in a plane, thousands of feet from the ground, however the "thousands" in that statement was changing at an accelerating rate towards "hundreds". They were falling and spinning out of control. The plane was in bad shape. The entire left side of the tiny metal plane had been blown off. The rim of the hole was jagged and smoking. Nico smelled jet fuel. The plane was going to blow any second, yet how it hadn't the moment the plane had been struck by lightning, Nico had no clue. Nico was grasping tightly against the wall opposite to the hole in order to avoid being thrown from the plane, gripping so hard it hurt his knuckles. Also, the fact that the plane was spinning uncontrollably didn't help at all either. Nico's face and hands were numb from the cold, winter wind pounding at him at 30 mph. His hands felt like they were swollen, and his nose was dripping nasal fluid as a reaction to inhaling the frigid air. Nico's black shirt was torn, and in the area it'd been torn at he felt warm blood trickling down the sides of his ribs. _I must have gotten nailed by some pieces of shrapnel_ Nico thought, wondering how bad it was. If worse came to worst, luckily Will Solace was an expert in healing. Oh gods, Will. Nico's blood ran like lead through his body, his heart pounding in his chest. Grasping the sides of the plane, Nico struggled to get to the smoking cockpit. He could already hear the roaring of the flames starting to grow, the second that it hit the fuel tank... He tore open the cockpit door, quit literally, seeing as it had already been blasted off it's hinges. It flew past Nico as it was sucked out the side of the plane. Inside the room was Will. Will was already strapping a parachute on.

"You ready to go Death Head?" Will called. Nico grinned at his nickname.

"Sure thing, Sunny Side." Nico called back. Will ran passed Nico, towards the side of the plane that had been ripped. His white fur coat was burnt in areas, his blonde hair askew in the wind. Nico's thoughts drifted back to the year earlier, when they'd first met. His voice shook him out of this thoughts. "They really are beautiful, but dangerous. Somehow these mountains remind me of you, Nico."

The plane had stopped spinning, but Will still needed to hold on to the walls. He stopped there for a moment and looked out. Nico followed his gaze. It would have been breathtaking, but Nico was already out of breath. The Himalayan mountains spread out before them, the white peaks of the mountains reaching for the skies like the teeth of a giant creature. Below them spread a canopy of white snow.  
>Nico projected a thought to Will, something he was able to do thanks to the Empathy Link he'd established with him awhile back. <em>Do you really think he's down there?<em>

_He'd better be, we've got no way to get back home if he isn't._

_Best of luck then._

_You too._

He jumped from the plane. Nico didn't need a parachute, it was dark enough to where he could shadow travel at the last second before he hit the ground. It would slow his momentum down enough for a safe landing. Nico stepped through the door and fell.

The feeling of falling from a plane wasn't new, but it still caused him to panic involuntarily. The wind slammed against his face, it felt like it was rebelling against him, ordering him to stop falling. Nico forced himself to remember that he'd be fine, and spread out his arms and legs. Lifting his head up, he relaxed. It was a wonderful feeling, not touching the ground. It could almost be mistaken for flying if you fell backwards and faced the sky. Nico saw Will deploy his parachute below him. Nico felt the shadows whispering to him as he prepared to make his jump. Even though he'd learned so much since he'd arrived at Camp Half Blood, he still didn't know where they came from. He often heard things about the near future from the shadows. They weren't bound to a time stream like humans were, they simply existed, observed, and whispered thoughts.

'They're coming! The invaders!' one said.

'Hide! Everyone hide!' said another.  
>'Please! Save us! Please!' another said.<p>

Nico sighed. The shadows were stirring much more these days, like they were running from an apocalyptic monster. Nico saw the ground below him. He was only a few seconds from impact. Nico imagined himself slipping through a crack in the light, the space where the sun wasn't reaching. It felt like falling, but much, much faster. Nico heard the whispering again, this time much louder. It sounded like he was in a dinning hall at a public school, but everyone was whispering.  
>Nico willed himself to slip out of the shadows on the ground. Nico saw a crack in the blackness and jumped out. It felt like getting out of a freezing cold lake and into the wind. It chilled Nico to the bones, to the point where he couldn't move more than a few feet. Nico felt his lips becoming numb. Looking up he saw the plane falling. It was on fire and leaving a trail of smoke. It landed on the ground about a hundred feet away in a fiery explosion. Nico tried to channel <em>"Will. I'm really cold, what about you?"<em>

_Nah man, I found this hot tub, I'm just chillin'. OF COURSE I'M COLD!_

_Right. Where are you._

_Look up._

Nico looked up. He dodged out of the way, the effort making his limbs feel like they were falling apart. Will landed right next to where Nico had previously been standing. Will's parachute fell like an overhead blanket over both of them, blocking out the twilight that still existed after the sun had left the horizon. Will took out something from his pocket, but it was too dark to see. At least with human eyes. Nico extended his Shadow Vision, something Hazel had taught him to do. It worked similar to how she was always able to find her way underground. Everything that the shadows touched relayed a signal through it, same as the Earth. It's how Gaea had been so powerful. Nico sensed that Will was holding small stick doused in gasoline. Will pulled the parachute off from over top of them and wadded it up. He set it on the ground, taking a match out of his pocket. Will sat down, legs crossed. Nico walked up next to him. "Why are you sitting down, your butt is going to freeze."

"First of all, it's actually not that bad, second of all, you don't need to worry about me, I actually can warm myself, I'm more worried about you. Besides, your going to get killed if you don't stop obsessing over my butt all the time."  
>Nico felt himself turning red and looked away, before sitting down too. It wasn't as cold as he thought it would've been. Will set the match and the stick on the parachute. Will extended his hand. A beam of sunlight shot out from it. "Ever since the Apollo kids lost the ability to see glimpses of the future, we've been gaining the ability to control sunlight." Nico nodded. It made since that Apollo would try to give a replacement for the gift of prophecy, ever since Delphi went missing. Will aimed the beam at the match. The beam grew smaller, like it was being shone through a magnifying glass. The match burst into flame, next, so did the stick, then the parachute.<p>

"We make a weird couple, don't we." Nico said.

"Why is that?" Will asked.

"You control light, I control darkness."

"Opposites attract, I guess." He turned his attention back toward the now flaming parachute. The flames gave off heat and light, illuminating the darkness that the sun left in it's absence as it set beneath the mountains. Nico pulled his black leather jacket tighter around him. Even though it was thick, it wasn't warm enough to block out the mountain coldness. Nico looked around. To his left, where the plane had landed, smoke rose above the flaming plane. A large field of icy tundra spread out of view beyond that. Nico could see a few tree's growing, somehow still living and green. They looked like Christmas tree's. That reminded Nico that Christmas was in four days. The glowing fires contrasting greatly with the snowy landscape. To Nico's right rose a mountain. It stretched miles towards the starry sky. Around it more mountains encircled them. They were in more or less a valley. Will spoke, shaking Nico out of his thoughts. "We're going to have to head over to that plane eventually, this fire won't last us long, and we need a heat source." Nico nodded. "I could shadow-"

"No!" Will yelled.

"I know, I know." Nico said. "But I haven't told you my plan yet!"

Will looked Nico in the eyes. "Dude, you're only supposed to shadow travel once every five days! You've already done that!"  
>Nico sighed, frustrated. "Will, you know how you created sunlight just now?" Will nodded.<br>"Well if you do that while we're traveling, the shadows can't touch me, I won't start fading." Will looked thoughtful.

"Fine, but if this doesn't work, no shadow traveling for two weeks!" Nico stood up, his muscles warmed. Looking down at his hands, he saw that they were pinkish. They were starting to tingle as the feeling in them returned. Will stood up next to Nico. Nico willed them both to slip into the shadows. Everything went black, and the whispering started again. Suddenly there was a burst of light, and Will was standing there. The whispering stopped. That's when the panic hit them. Nico looked around frantically. They were in a room with a checkered tile floor. All around them footsteps could be heard. The mania of frantically scrambling people instilled panic that ran deeper than either he or Will could explain. They felt like if they didn't do something fast they'd become part of the crowd, a voice that nobody could see, lost forever.  
>Nico was the first to recover.<p>

"Hey, it's okay." Will looked Nico in the eyes, fear evident. "Will!" Nico yelled. Will took a deep breath.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"This is why people are afraid of the dark." Nico said. "Darkness radiates fear, because this is where fear lives."

"Can it hurt us?" Will asked.

"Only if you let it." Warned Nico

"What do we do?" Will asked looking around.

"Close your eyes."

"What?!"

"Do it! The light you made is protecting us, focus on making it stronger, and ignore the fear, then the laughing will go away!"  
>Will closed his eyes, he started glowing, like a lava lamp. Nico closed his eyes as well, picturing coming out of the shadows next to the plane.<br>A rip in the nightmarish scenery caused Nico to open his eyes. It looked like somebody had torn a hole in a green screen, and he was looking at what was behind it. The snowy ground held upon it the plane. Nico stepped out into the bitter cold, followed by Will. Again he felt like he was walking into the wind, but this time without the feeling of coming out of an icy lake. Nico turned to Will, the light he had been emitting fading. His breathing was ragged. "Did it work?" He asked.

"Yeah, it did." Answered Nico.

Later on, they both finally fell asleep next to the warmth of the burning plane.

The dreams were as pleasant as ever.  
>Nico was standing on a beach. There was a hurricane in the distance. Palm tree's were blown by the massive winds, almost horizontally. Trash flew everywhere, the waves slammed into the ground, over and over. Suddenly, Nico saw a shooting star streaking through the heavens, lit by the flames enforced by Earth's atmosphere. Nico realized that it was less of a shooting star and more of a meteorite, heading towards the ground at supersonic speeds. It lit up the entire sky in brilliant colors. With a massive splash, the meteorite slammed into the ocean, exploding on impact. A massive tidal wave stretched into the sky, rushing straight for the beach at 200+ MPH. Suddenly the dream changed. Nico was standing on a rocky cliff, staring into the horizon, at the sunset. Nico watched, horrified, as what appeared to be a creature large enough to be seen from space, swallowed the sun, and the sky went dark. Once again the dream changed. Nico was sitting on top of a car, his skeleton chauffeur driving him towards an unknown destination. Nico looked at a city that he was driving away from. Standing in the midst of the city was a humanoid, larger than any god or titan he'd ever seen. They only thing that came close was the entity of Tartarus that Percy had described. It looked to be made entirely of fire. With one massive swoop of his hand, the entire area was engulfed in flames, and Nico felt every single person in the city die.<p>

Nico woke with a start. The sunlight was beating down on his face, even though it was still freezing. Nico sat up. It was cold as ever. The fire from the plane had died down quiet a bit. Will was already awake, making breakfast. Nico stood up and walked over to where he was standing. In his hand he held out a stick, and on the other end of the stick was two fish, sizzling and smoking. "Where the hell did you find these fish?"

Will looked up. "Over there"

Nico looked where he was pointing. There was a lake somewhere in the distance. "You can fish?"

"Not really" Will replied. "I just walked around for awhile, looking at the trees to see if they were growing anything edible. Then I saw a crate near the lake filled with supplies. Medical, food, weapons, the works."

"Okay never mind, I'm sorry I asked." Nico said, thinking that Will was being sarcastic.

"No Nico, I'm serious, look." Will pointed to a crate sitting behind him.

Nico did a double take. He walked over to where the crate was. There were two backpacks inside, equipped with sheaths for all sorts of stuff. They had a ton of latches for expanding or contracting the size, so it wouldn't ever be too bulky or small. There was canned food, wrapped fish, sandwiches, and all sorts of other food in there as well. Nico dug around and saw on the bottom were all sorts of weapons. Swords, knifes, bows, quivers full of arrows. And, whoa and behold! Fleece jackets! Nico dug one out and threw it on. Nico dug around some more and saw that the weapons were made of the usual demigod materials such as Celestial bronze, Imperial gold, and Stygian Iron, which made Nico extremely suspicious. But strangest of all were the weapons that looked like they were made of mortal steel. But they emanated warmth. Looking through the medical supplies, there were the usual disinfectants, bandages, cling wraps, and instructions, but there was also an abundance of ambrosia and nectar.

"It's like they knew we were coming." Nico said.

"Yeah, we're probably in danger of dying, everything in there is probably going to be poisoned or explosive. Still, I've done all the usual tests and most of everything seems to be real. But there's one thing in there that I don't trust." Will turned toward Nico, pulling a metal weapon out of his pocket.

"Is that a... gun?" Nico asked. He hadn't seen a mortal weapon in so long.

Will nodded grimly. "I'm starting to wonder if maybe this was intended for somebody else to find. The only weapon in there I can use well is the bow, but the arrows are tipped with..."

"What?" Nico asked.

"Lunar Silver."

"You mean like the Hunters of Artemis use?" Nico asked again.  
>Will nodded and sat down next to Nico, handing him a fish. It smelled so good that Nico couldn't wait to take a bite. It was juicy and crispy on the outside. Nico hadn't eaten fish this freshly caught in years. Nico felt the warmth of the food coursing down his chilled body. Suddenly Nico felt a sharp, burning pain on his side. He dropped the fish in the snow and clutched his ribs.<p>

Will sat up, looking furious. "You idiot! You got hurt on the way out of the plane didn't you?!"

"Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention it." Nico answered.

Will took out the medical supplies. "Lay down."

"Fine." replied Nico.

Will took off Nico's jacket and lifted his shirt. Looking down Nico saw how bad the injury really was. It looked discolored and infected, the shrapnel from the plane had burned the area too. Will looked over the area, before lifting Nico's arm and injecting something. It was anesthetic! "Dude! Why are you giving me anesthetic?!" Nico complained, his speech slurred.

"That shrapnel is moving toward your heart, it's not very deep but I have to get it out."

Nico watched Will take out a magnet from the bag. It felt cold against his ribs. Nico felt the metal moving out of his body as the electromagnet turned on. It tingled, and Nico knew it would hurt like hell later on. Will's hands flew over the area, cleaning it out and applying cling wrap. When he was finally done. Nico felt much better.

"Just sit down, the anesthetic has to wear off, I'll keep an eye out for people. If you fall asleep, make sure to message Thalia that we found Hunter weapons."

The dream started like usual. Nico was once again sitting on a beach, watching the hurricane. 'No time to lollygag' thought Nico. Nico willed himself to slip out of the dream, much like he slipped out of the shadows. Nico felt the illusion of sleep fade away, and he felt all his weight disappearing as his consciousness was unchained. Nico was floating above the encampment that he and Will were in. Looking down Nico saw his body laying down, and Will rummaging through the supplies. Memories started flooding back. He'd learned this technique of traveling through real life only a few months ago. He'd remembered all the dreams he'd have where he'd somehow spied on the enemy, and had started wondering how. He realized that his mind was unchained when he was asleep. Not only could he traverse other peoples dreams, but he could traverse the world. Nico willed himself to appear at Thalia's side. Nico watched as what looked like paint dripped down over the world, the colors swirling and forming the new picture of his surroundings. It reminding Nico of the picture once drawn by Vincent van Gogh, called Starry Night. Nico was unfamiliar with where he was. It was white, there were tiles everywhere. He heard the sound of running water. Nico looked around. There were stalls, and sinks. Suddenly Nico felt like an ice grip was seizing him. He knew instantly where he was, and he needed to leave immediately. Nico willed himself to go skyward, knowing that he'd accidentally just appeared in the woman's locker room. He was now floating miles away from where he had just appeared at. _'Your an idiot Nico, a really creepy stalker too...'_ He thought to himself. Nico tested the area for any sleepers. Nico found the infirmary. There were a few people just coming out of sleep. Nico jumped into one of the dreams. Nico was standing in a field, under the full moon. There were animals walking around, and a lone hunter stalking the prey. When the animals saw Nico, they all ran away. "Aw come on! Who the devil are you?!" said the dreamer. Nico turned. She appeared to be around thirteen, her bow pulled, she was aiming straight at Nico's chest. "I need you to send a message to Thalia Grace." Nico said, facing her.  
>Suddenly her eyes went wide in surprise, and she put away the arrow, slinging the bow over her shoulder. "Wait, your that kid who came through here with the Parthenos aren't you?" She asked.<br>This was going to be the tricky part. He needed to keep her calm, if she realized she was dreaming, it would become a Lucid Dream. It was highly likely that she had never had one before, and if she had one for the first time, the shock would electrocute her body away, she'd have a stiff neck for days.

"Listen, I'm trying to save a friends life, everyone else thinks he's dead. Would you be willing the help me?"  
>she looked at him thoughtfully. Standing up from her hiding place she walked over to Nico, and shook his hand.<p>

"You saved the world, didn't you? Of course I'll help. How?" Nico explained to her what he'd found in the crate.  
>She furrowed her brow. "How long ago did you see the crate?" She asked.<p>

"Just this morning." Nico said.

"I thought you were in the Himalayas this morning. Actually, why am I not on the move with the hunters right now...?" she looked around as if expecting to see the other hunters.

"Listen, I need you to take a deep breath." She turned to him. She did so.  
>Nico sat down. "Sit down and calm your heart rate, I'm going to tell you something, I need you not to get shocked or excited." She eyed him suspiciously, but sat down.<p>

"This is a dream." Nico said.  
>Her eyes went wide, but she calmed down. "I need you to tell everything I've told you to Thalia." She nodded.<p>

"So if this is a dream, does that mean I can fly?" she asked. Nico nodded. "You have to expect it to happen, like, turn around and expect that there will be an airplane or a glider behind you." Nico answered.

"I've got to go now," Nico said "Make sure to remember everything I've told you."

Nico woke. Will was shaking his shoulders. Looking up, Nico saw the stars, millions upon millions of them, like the sky had glowing white freckles. Nico sat up, his sides hurt like hell, but he ignored it. The fleece jacket had kept him warm, even though the fire from the plane was really dim. Nico realized that he was extremely hungry. "Will, do we have anything to eat?"

"I think we've got other things to worry about." Will replied, pointing somewhere along to ground towards the mountain. Nico followed his gaze, sitting up. Somehow his wounds didn't hurt. Will was no joke when it came to healing. Nico saw what the "other things" were. A flaming SUV was driving at 80 mph towards them.

"Holy sh-"

"Nico." Warned Will.

Nico grabbed his sword from the ground, unsheathing it. Nico felt a rush of power from the blade. His blood started to pump harder, his eyesight cleared. He was thinking faster than usual, taking in information rapidly. It felt like he'd just been injected with an EPEE-pen. The SUV was being swarmed by what looked like humanoid moths. "Dammit," Nico complained. These must've been some kind of cheap knock off of The Furies. Possibly the monsters Percy had talked about that cursed you if you killed them. Nico knew what he had to do.

"Do the thing." Nico said.

"I got it." Said Will, understanding without actually needing to hear what Nico had to say. He ran for the bow and arrows in the crate as Nico began his transformation.

Nico felt for the bodies underneath the soil. They'd been well preserved from the cold. Nico commanded bone and muscle to shoot out from the ground. The ground exploded as random body parts flew around him, like debris orbiting a planet. Nico separated the bone from the muscle, looking for a size that fit him. He found enough to piece together an entire skeleton roughly bigger than he was. He laced it on top of himself, making a makeshift skeleton. The bones cleaned themselves, all smell and grime disappearing. Nico then felt for the muscle, laying it on top of the bones. He left slits for his eyes and nose. Nico felt everything lacing itself together, the exoskeleton building itself. He felt like he had a new layer of body, without skin. Experimentally, he tried sprinting. He tore through the tundra, faster than any Olympian could. By that he of course meant the human athletes, not the actual Olympians. Nico ran back over to the bones that had fallen unceremoniously after he'd left the area. Nico found a few sharp ribs and attached them to his elbows and knees. Will suddenly spoke into his mind.

_You know that really is disgusting..._

_Hey, at least if my body gets incinerated, I have an extra one._

_Sometimes I feel like I have a love/hate relationship with you Nico._

_Just stand back and let Nico do all the badassery, Sunny Side._

Nico faced the SUV, extending his shadow vision. He felt two souls in the vehicle, one had cheated death. He searched deeper. One had escaped a curse, but she wasn't really the target the moth ladies were after. The other soul had somehow done the equivalent of flipping Death the bird and making a really bad "yo mamma" joke about him. Nico sighed. That was probably Leo. Nico took a sprinting stance, taking his sword in his hands. The SUV was getting closer, the leathery ladies body-slamming the car every step of the way. Nico took off. He headed at what felt like 45 MPH. Before he rammed into the truck he commanded his exoskeleton to tighten around him as he jumped. He flew into the sky, spinning in a circle as he held out his sword, making a Nico/Sword cyclone, taking out several of the monsters as he flew over the car, causing them to melt into shadow. He landed behind the SUV, using his hand to catch himself as he hit the ground. Lifting his gaze from the ground, he saw what had been chasing Leo on foot. A wave of monsters, cyclopes, dracaenae, hellhounds, chimera, (creatures with the body of a lion, head of a goat, and a snake for a tail) and what looked like hundreds of telekhines marched through the snow.

Nico once again took a running stance. _Elbows pointed, sword raised, toes barely skimming the ground, cut in swirls through the group, do as much damage as possible before regrouping with Will._ Nico thought. Nico ran through the crowd at top speed. Nico slashed back and forth, as he ran, decimating the monsters left and right. Whenever they noticed the clump of death going 45 MPH through their ranks, Nico jumped forward, going even faster. As he ran Nico commanded the bodies he slashed to delay disintegration and instead fall under his control. The major things like souls moved on, but the basics like their spirits and a copy of their memories stayed. Nico commanded them to attack. Nico multiplied his ranks whenever he attacked, as the enemies turned into allies before dying. It was like a plague was spreading throughout the ranks. Nico had to doge a chimera who lashed out at him. Nico remembered that those things had human-like intelligence. Nico faced the creature. It was sizing him up, thinking of the best way to strike. Nico didn't wait to attack. Jumping, he became airborne. Nico willed the ribs he'd earlier attached to his elbows and knees to shoot like projectiles at the eyes of the lion and the snake, blinding both. Nico spun in a circle as he fell, and like a saw split the creature down the middle. Nico landed on his side, but the exoskeleton took the blow. He felt ribs cracking, and was grateful it wasn't his own. Nico sprung up. The exoskeleton was draining his energy fast. Nico began the sprint back when something grabbed him. Nico realized it must've been a cyclops from the strength of the grip. "Die demigod!" It yelled as it squeezed Nico. Suddenly an arrow pierced it's eye and Nico slashed his way out of the monster's grasp.

_Thanks Will._

_If you die I die remember?_

It's nice to feel loved.  
>Nico jumped through the air, soaring above the crowd. Looking around, Nico saw the damage Will had done. Arrows stuck smack dab in the middle of piles of monster dust, there were at least fifty piles. Nico charged for the camp. The SUV had stopped moving. The bat-ladies lie dead and disintegrating. Nico felt the exoskeleton fall apart around him as he arrived at the car. Somehow the flames had disappeared. Nico opened the door to find Leo and a girl he'd never seen before inside. She looked like some sort of model. They were both unconscious. "Long time no see." Nico said. They both jumped awake. Fire appeared in Leo's hands and the girl lifted a gun to be level with Nico's face. Suddenly Leo sighed with relief, the girl lowered her gun.<p>

"Yo Nico, man! It really has been forever. I totally almost killed you just then! Can you believe that?!" The girl glared at him.

"Fool, I obviously would have nailed him first with a sovereign steel bullet."

Will walked over, "Sovereign steel?"

The girl smiled, "It's like celestial bronze but ten times more potent. It's basically refined lunar silver."

"Ah, it's a shame I've never heard of it. Who might you be by the way?" Will asked.

"Calypso, Leo's girlfriend." She said.

Leo grinned from the drivers side seat. "I sort of rescued her from this cursed island and whatnot. But enough about us, how have you been?"

"Tracking you." Said Nico. They all turned to look at him, his voice, though quiet, was strident. He didn't talk very much to anyone except Will, but when he did everyone listened. "We finally got an all points bulletin on you six months ago. What the heck are you doing here?"

"Got lost." Leo replied in a glib tone.

"Ha-ha very funny." Said Nico. Nico didn't know why, but Leo was irritating him for some reason. He figured he should have been overjoyed to see him in so long, especially after they'd thought he was dead. Something about his lackadaisical smile and calmness irritated him.

"I'll tell you the truth. After I beat the clay off of mud-mouth, I got a sinking feeling I'd made a terrible mistake."

Will sighed. "Leo, that's not really a light topic to be joking about. She almost killed everyone that we knew and loved."

Leo rolled his eyes. "I'm the guy who went kamikaze on her, I did what needed to be done. Of course she needed to be killed, but in doing so I threw everyone out of the easy bake oven and into the microwave."

Nico scoffed. "It's hard to take you seriously when you talk about Gaea like one of those disgusting easy bake ovens."

Leo chuckled, but it was obvious that it was forced. Forced chuckles? Had Leo really changed that much over the period of time he'd been missing? "Hey, compared to what I probably did by killing her so completely... In comparison she really is just an easy bake oven."

Will was getting irritated, Nico could feel it, even though he didn't let it show. "What are you getting on about?"  
>Leo's grin faded into an expression of darkness. "Think about it. I spread bits and atoms of her all over the planet, carried by the wind and water. She still exists all over the Earth, but so completely obliterated that the atoms that used to be hers are probably now bits and pieces of us all. You probably have consumed bits of Gaea in the food you eat and the air you breathe. But that's not the point. I killed the embodiment of planet Earth, an ancient goddess who had been doing who knows what in her sleep. But what if she hadn't been lazily relaxing. What if the only thing she {could} have been doing was protecting herself from a bigger threat than anything that existed on Earth. Something unlike anything we've ever faced before."<p>

Nico wasn't sure what Leo meant. A threat apart from anything on Earth? Sure, there was Tartarus, but that was a subdivision of The Underworld, which existed in L.A.. Technically it was a compressed dimension, a form of storing a large reality in a small area. It was so big in fact it had it's own gravitational pull, that fact alone had caused devastation to the Earths tectonic plates, but Nico doubted that was what Leo was in the mountains to try fixing. "Leo, what threat could be outside of Earth? Are you trying to tell me there's something else out there that Gaea was {protecting} us from?"

Leo slumped in his seat. "Well, that's why I haven't come home yet, I've been trying to find out. I just have to know! I know for sure that Gaea has been protecting us from a ton of stuff. Well more or less protecting herself. Her aura, Earth's magnetic field, has always protected us from solar wind that otherwise would have stripped our atmosphere away. She built the atmosphere that sweeps away the small ions that still get through. The crust is constantly regenerating, the cycle of life was only kept up by Demeter, but Gaea set up the idea. It's like Gaea built the original Unix, and the gods just made distributions of Ubuntu."

Calypso elbowed him. "You're doing that thing where your not speaking English." She complained.

"Sorry, basically, she set up all the stuff that the gods inherited, but what if she was doing more than just that. It's often been said that Zeus was the ruler of the Universe, but what if that was just Zeus being hyperbolic. What if he only owns our Galaxy?"

"Are you saying that Zeus doesn't own anything outside of the Milky Way?"

"That's not all I'm saying. What if the Olympians aren't the only gods out there? What if there are creatures that are as powerful, or even more powerful than them. And if they existed anywhere, it would be outside of Zeus's domain. Some scientists are saying that our neighboring Galaxy, The Andromeda Galaxy, is heading for us and will arrive here sometime in the future. I think that somehow it's being steered by these Alter-Olympians, and now they can see us, and there going to get here five-gajillion times faster. That's why I've been going to the mountains, they're the closest place on Earth to the stars, my next stop is Mount Everest, I'm going to build an observatory with a little extra zing to it there, and find out everything I can about this place."

Nico exhaled, impressed. "Are you saying your not going back to Camp Half Blood with us? You do know that that's the safest place for you right?"

Leo looked deadly serious. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Nico, I have something to ask of you. Nobody can know I'm here, I have to have complete security in my work, or my information might be jeopardized. This might be the only way I'll be able to fix this."

Will looked sympathetic. "Hey, it's not your fault, it's not like there was any other choice to choose besides taking her out."

Leo laughed, this time it wasn't fake. "You make it sound like I regret murdering her! I saved you guys, I regret nothing. I've already given my life for you guys, I think it's better if people still believed that was true. I swear though, one day I'll come back to life, and when I do it will be with a bang."

Nico frowned, he knew exactly what Leo meant, but decided to ask anyways. "What are you saying, your not dead, your as alive as the skin on my forehead. I know what your going to ask me Leo, but how could I do something like that to everyone back at Camp Half Blood. How could I lie like that."

Nico could feel that Will was really confused. Nico sounded cryptic to himself, so he wasn't surprised. Leo's smile faded. "You know as well as I do that a true death isn't decided by who still exists on Earth and who doesn't. It's decided by people. If the people believe I've died, then the only place I live is in their hearts. As for how you will lie to everyone, that is where my final request comes in, Ghost King. You two are the only people who can ever know the truth of my existence, otherwise I will be forever chased by the Legions of Hades until I'm finally brought to justice for using the Physician's Cure. You can't cheat death without consequences. When I come back to life, I will most likely be confined to the safety of Camp Half Blood. The only thing that keeps Hades from seeing me now is Calypso's magic. But even the strongest magic can be overrun if enough people believe in something. Nico, Will, I need you to go back to Camp Half Blood and tell the other campers that you found the area that I died at. Tell them there was nothing left of me to take home. Tell the world, that Leo Valdez is dead. Also, tell them that my last words were 'All teh ladiez luv Leo!'"  
>Calypso slapped him at that last part. Will looked shell shocked. Nico was the first to recover. "Leo, was that crate I found for you?" Nico asked, pointing behind him.<p>

"Ah yes, that'll do very nicely, you can't be too careful in the business of not getting killed, you know?"

Nico grinned. Nico went over to the crate and flicked his index finger up. A skeleton shot out from the ground. "Carry the crate." He commanded. The skeleton nodded in his compliance, grabbing the crate and hoisting it over to the SUV. Leo called to Will and handed him a note. Nico couldn't hear what Leo said next, but before he could ask, the SUV drove off again. Will walked over to Nico. "He told me to give this to Percy Jackson, something about Calypso." Nico shrugged. "Come on, lets get back home."

Will laughed. "How?"

Nico smiled. "Ever wanted to ride a dinosaur?"

Will smirked. "What, a zombie dinosaur?"

Nico made a three fingered claw towards the ground and pointed it at himself. Huge dinosaur bones clawed through the compact snow, rebuilding itself. "Lets go home."


	2. The Silence Before A Storm

**Authors note. This story is slow at first, but takes more and more structure as it continues. I have it planned out from beginning to end, and unless Rick Riordan suddenly releases a new book in this series, you can expect it to be finished. It may be hard to see the Percy Jackson aspect of this chapter at first, but as time moves on you'll understand why this chapter was necessary. Last chapter was kind of an intro, to get you familiar with the underlying plot of the story. This chapter is more of a background of my main OC character. If you have a suggestion for a theme you want me to do, go ahead and write it in a review. So far, I have the themes of Romance for Nico and Will, sci fi is a large part of the story, horror and philosophy are also incorporated in some of the chapters. The history of my main character is hard to see at first, but you'll learn more about her over time. Anyways, you didn't come here to read these bold words, you came here for this story!**

**Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Even though this is a fanfiction sight, apparently it's a good idea to state the obvious, I don't own Peter Johnson, or Percy Jackson. Also, just guess I'll through this in there, I don't own Attack on Titan, Naussica Valley of the Wind, or Castle in the Sky. **

Chapter two: The Silence Before a Storm.

* * *

><p>Unknown date, unknown time, ~The subconscious.<p>

* * *

><p>I looked around me, my surroundings were unfamiliar and strange. For one, they were black and white, no color anywhere to be seen. I was standing on a gray island, but it was only around twelve feet in diameter, barely large enough for me to stand on. I was surrounded by an ocean, stretching for miles in every direction. But the water was dead, no life anywhere to be found, it was still and quiet, so still in fact, I could see the reflection of night sky perfectly. A million white dots sprinkled over a black and dreary sky. Looking up, I saw the moon, a large pale disk glowing brightly. Another thing about this ocean was that it didn't smell like fresh air and sea salt, but rather it smelled of ink, the kind used in printers. Suddenly I saw a group of people in the distance, all billowing white and glowing, hovering a few inches above the water like ghosts. Their reflections in the water streaked all the way to my tiny island. I tried to call out to them, but my voice didn't work. I tried to move toward them, but my feet were anchored to the ground. I suddenly felt very cold as they all turned toward me. Their eyes were white and lacked pupils. Their mouths were hanging open, as if in shock. They turned away from me and formed a circle, holding hands. They started to dance around. They began to sing, their voice echoing and sending ripples throughout the entire ocean. But their voice was sad and lacked any happiness at all.<p>

_London bridge is falling down,_  
><em>falling down,<em>  
><em>falling down,<em>  
><em>London bridge is falling down, my fair lady.<em>  
><em>Build it up with wood and clay, wood and clay, wood and clay,<em>  
><em>build it up with wood and clay, my fair lady.<em>

Here everything went dead silent, it felt like the world was holding it's breath. Something was rising out of the water, columns of ocean falling away as the object lifted itself skyward. It was a giant bridge, suspended above the ocean like an unfinished sentence, unattached to anything, and unrelated to either of the abruptly ending sides. I saw luminescent people walking the length of the bridge and fading away as they reached the edge. The group of people in front of me started to sing again, but this time their voices sounded riddled with grief, almost like they were on the verge of tears.

_Wood and clay will was away, wash away, wash away,_  
><em>wood and clay will wash away, my fair lady.<em>

And suddenly, as if on Que, a column of water shot out of the ocean, like the hand of a hungry man snatching up a breadcrumb, and the bridge collapsed. Even from where I was, I could hear people screaming in the distance as they plummeted to their deaths. One of the people who had been singing, a young women, fell over into a kneeling position, crying. She stood up again, and when the group sang their voices were shaky and fragile, like one swift blow would break them into a billion fragments.

_Build it up with stone so strong, stone so strong, stone so strong,_  
><em>build it up with stone so strong, my fair lady.<em>

In the same way that the wooden bridge had come up from the ocean, the stone bridge did as well, water falling away like a tablecloth falls off a table if you move it too far in one direction. I once again saw the people cross the bridge, like nothing bad had ever happened there. The group of people were now singing again, but this time, they sounded so angry, it caused my hair to stand on end.

_Stone so strong will soon be gone, soon be gone, soon be gone,_  
><em>stone so strong will soon be gone, claimed by Hades.<em>

Then there was an explosion of red light, shattering the black and white theme of the world, engulfing everything and making it impossible to see.  
>And then, the worst part about it all, I heard the next verse of the song whispered, right next to me.<p>

_Everything here has to fall, to ash and dust, from flesh and bone,_  
><em>Even Emilia Silverstone.<em> I was finally able to move, and I turned around toward the voice, and saw one of the singers, standing right next to me.

* * *

><p>May 22nd, 2017, 5:59, ~42 12 Jerusalem Ave, NY.

* * *

><p>I inhaled sharply. My blood felt like lead pumping through my veins, my heart pounding against my chest. I felt alive, awake, but scared. My eyes slowly opened, but I was still unable to move the rest of my body. It felt like there was a heavy lead blanket over me, weighing my down. The first time this had happened to me, I had freaked out and tried to scream for help, but now I knew that this was just sleep paralysis. It was a mechanism the body uses to prevent you from acting out your dreams. It separated the connection of your mind and body in way. However, blinking and breathing still worked, because they were both voluntary <em>and<em> involuntary. I took a deep breath, and slowly regained control of my arms.

I looked to my left. There was a glowing red light. What in the world was that? As my vision cleared, the light took the shape of numbers. Five, colon, five, nine. Oh, that was my alarm clock. I sighed. Fifty nine seconds until the strident sound of beeping pierced the houses of everyone who had to go to school today, or work. My eyes left the clock and drifted to the ceiling. I saw the bumps and dots scattered around the surface of it. What in the world were those things? What day was it? Monday... My eyes went back to the clock. The desk it was sitting on was mahogany, it stretched a good ten feet to the left before stopping. Littering the top of the desk were completed homework assignments, open books, and notes. That reminded me, today was the day we took the second half of our final exams. I'd been studying so hard, the textbooks were all so confusing. In math the teacher taught us multiplication while the books taught us how to divide the area of a circle by the ratio of the diameter of the sun to the diameter of the moon. Not really, but you get what I mean. Half of the time I was only getting good grades because Google had better teaching sites than the actual school I went to. But that's life I guess.

The alarm started beeping as my hand hit the "off" button. I got up out of bed, tucking in my sheets behind me. I walked the length of the table, organizing my homework by category, and compiling my notes one more time. I grabbed my backpack off the floor and took my folders out of it. As I placed the papers into the different labeled folders, I began to feel a spark of hope. If today went well, maybe I'd get to come back next year, maybe finally something weird wouldn't happen and I wouldn't have to move away. Maybe I'd finally get to visit my friends again. It seemed too much to ask for. All my life weird and unexplainable events surrounded me, I was never allowed to settle down anywhere. I was constantly on the move, and though it wasn't a bad thing not to have to see old bully's again, solitude was a lonely gift to give.

My gaze left my desk. I crouched down and looked underneath it. Sitting there was my greatest, and most dangerous creation. Like all truly powerful things in human history, it was inspired by fear. Fear of not being strong enough to face an enemy that has haunted you for years. When I was twelve years old, it was just after barely getting a good grade on my final test, and knowing that I would get to come back next year, that another awful event happened, but this one was the worst that had ever occurred.

I tried to shake the memories off. I stood up and looked to my right. There were two doors side by side, the one on the right was the exit, the one on the left was the entrance to my bathroom. I walked over to the bathroom door and opened it. I stepped in flicking the light switch on. Closing the door behind me I turned to my right, facing a mirror a few steps ahead. I looked over my reflection, my brown bedhead, my round face. I tried to see what color my eyes were, but the color seemed to be dynamic, changing. If I turned my head slightly to the left, they appeared blue, but if I turned my head the other way, they looked green. I turned from the mirror.

Five minutes later I left the bathroom, dressed in a green shirt and blue jeans, my hair combed back. My clock read "6:03". I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door to the right.

Outside the door was the hallway that lead into the living room. Straight ahead from the living room was the kitchen. I walked toward the living room, and saw my foster mom in the kitchen, making breakfast. She was flipping eggs with a spatula. She tapped the spatula against the pan she was cooking with three times. Oh God... Three times, three gunshots. My breathing became rapid, I held the wall to steady myself and took a deep breath. I continued heading into the living room. As I entered my mom turned around, smiling. I looked around and saw the dinning table. I took a seat, and she sat down next to me, handing me a plate of eggs and bacon.

"How are you-a-doing Emilia?" she said in an Italian accent.

"I'm fine." I said, smiling back.

"Are you nervous for the test today?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

I laughed, "Trust me, the test is going to be easy."

She frowned and leaned forward. "I know my Emilia, and I-a-know when you are nervous. If it isn't the-a-test, then what is it?"

I sighed, moms, even foster moms, where better detectives than most police. You can't lie to them, you can't argue with them, and they can smell you hiding a mile away. "I just want today to be a good day, I want to finally have some friends that last more than a few months."

"I know Emilia. I hope-a-today goes well too."

A few minutes later I was hopping on my bike. My eyes flickered over the front yard of our house. It was pretty bare, with not much room, just a short driveway with my mom's car parked in front of it. We lived close to an intersection, so the streets were always noisy. I started peddling away from the house, glancing at our address. 42 1/2 Jerusalem Ave. To this day it always confused me why there would be a fraction in the address. I started riding along the sidewalk, houses and trees on either side of me. Looking to my left, I saw that the wall of houses opened into another road. I turned left, riding along rough and unmaintained pavement of the road. I rolled onto another sidewalk, riding downhill. A hedge was planted along the sidewalk to my right, neatly trimmed and green as emerald. I rode alongside it and kept peddling. Maybe if I got to the school fast enough than...

No, they were already here.

"Emilia!" shouted a short boy with black hair. He walked out from behind the other side of the hedge. I took a deep breath. I knew how to deal with bullies like him. I pulled my back break while turning, causing my back wheel to slide forward. My entire bike turned sideways, drifting to a stop. I used the centrifugal force to throw myself off the bike, landing on my feet facing him, keeping one hand on the bike handles.

"Charlie, I'm in a hurry"

The boy, Charlie, grinned. He was slightly overweight, his hair slicked back with copious amounts of hair gel. He wore a leather jacket despite it being warm out.

"School doesn't start until 7:45, Julius Seizure."

I winced at the nickname. It was referring to the epileptic seizures I had every once and awhile. If only he knew the truth behind them, he wouldn't dare come near me. "Listen, I really don't want to do this right now, so please stop hogging the sidewalk." The words came out harder than I meant them to. All school year Charlie had been a big jerk, and I guess I was still trying not to get angry at him.

"Free country, Miss."

I sighed. "Fine, I'll just go around you." I turned to pick up my bike, maybe he'd let me go peacefully.

"What, already? I was thinking we could do a little charity, you could donate to me and my friends, we're in desperate need you know?"

I felt a fire start somewhere inside of me. Without turning around, I said "What? Did the poor kids at the school run out of lunch money for you assholes to steal?"

"Now now Miss, there's no need to swear, all I'm asking is for a small donation for the poor."

I rolled my bike into the street. "Your dad is filthy rich. My mom barely scrapes by. You wanna talk about donating to the poor? I've got a plan for myself, but if you want to make a difference why don't you give a few dimes to make it easier for my mom to go back to school?" I was so close to avoiding this whole encounter, now about to ride around this guy and get away, when four more guys came out from behind the hedge, making a line and blocking the road. Unfortunately, no cars would be coming to help any time soon, since this road was barely used. I took my backpack of my shoulder and unzipped it. Inside where two metal bracelets. I slipped them on each hand and turned to face this blockade. Charlie grinned.

"I'm sorry miss, but this donation just became _mandatory_."

With that, all five of them ran at me.  
><em>If only they knew the truth behind my epilepsy.<em>

I took a deep breath and focused on every detail of boys charging at me. Time suddenly seemed to slow down. It looked like they were running in slow motion. This was my greatest gift, and most terrible curse. I was in a state that I liked to call "running hot" where my mind was processing data so fast that time seemed to slow down. This phenomenon is commonly reported among cliff divers, stating that it seemed like they fell in slow motion. But unlike cliff divers, I could control it. Unfortunately I wasn't The Flash, so I moved in slow motion as well. Charlie had a knife in his hand, he must have snuck it from his dad. The other four were unarmed, but they were probably strong enough to crack my spine. I lifted my right hand to my chest and tapped the bracelet twice. Five metal wire rods stuck out, aligning with my fingers. The five stooges were almost upon me now. I jumped back in slow motion. The line they were creating was almost impeccable, except for one flaw. The hedge was on the right, they had no one guarding it. I bolted for the hedge, time speeding up again.

"Get her!" They yelled. Just like that, the chase began.

I ran passed a street sign, running on the road before hitting the sidewalk again. My feet tore above the pavement, but the others where faster than I was. They would catch me soon. I took another deep breath, everything slowed down. There was a fence to my right, cars parked on the side of the road across the street to my left, and my bike behind me. I couldn't run, I was outnumbered, and I didn't have a weapon. Well that last part wasn't true, but hurting people was the last thing I wanted to do. I'd rather them hurt each other. Suddenly I heard something whisper in my ear.

_You have to get Emilia, she's always showing you up, that little monster is always acting better than you, anger, revenge, hatred._

I turned around. There were five dark silhouettes floating behind the five people chasing me. I saw them lean over and whisper things in their ears. My face went cold as I heard them whisper again.

_Throw the knife, Charlie._

I slowly turned back toward my pursuers, no longer running away, jumping backward while tapping my bracelet four times in a row. The wire rods extended to four times the size of my fingers, like claws. I saw the knife flying through the air, aiming straight for me, the razor blade pointed directly at my neck. I slowly swiped it out of the air. The knife clanged against my artificial claws, causing it to fly in a different direction. Unfortunately I didn't have enough energy to keep everything in slow motion. and I fell backwards to the ground. Luckily I had my wits about me, and I rolled as I landed, getting up on my feet and continuing to run. Charlie stopped to pick up his knife, and the entire group slowed their pace for him. Another two way intersection was up ahead, a stop sign positioned below two street name signs. I took a sharp left on to the street, turning away from the path that led to the school and subsequently out of sight from Charlie's gang. I ran until I was running along a fence, and I jumped it immediately, entering a strangers yard.

I waited for a few minutes, looking out a crack in the fence. The five guys ran straight passed me in my hiding place. I was utterly exhausted, but filled with a sense of accomplishment and pride. I had escaped danger without harming any of them. I was thankful that it hadn't come to that, and that I hadn't needed to take my _other_ bracelets out of my backpack.

I lifted my left hand up and tapped the bracelet on it twelve times. An L.E.D. screen popped up displaying an analog clock. "6:20". It had taken at least fifteen minutes to deal with Charlie. This is why I had left so early.

A few minutes later I was picking up my bike and peddling down the sidewalk. The wind in my hair felt good. I looked up at the sky, the sunrise painting it with the colors of the morning. I loved sunrise, it signified a new day, a fresh start. I rode for a few minutes more, before I came to a fork in the road. I took a left. The houses started to pan out a bit, the area opening up. Finally I reached the end of the road, a double gate blocking cars from continuing to the school parking lot ahead. However it didn't block the sidewalk, so I rode straight through.

The wheel of my bicycle rolled over the smooth pavement of the parking lot. To my right, the concrete ended where the grass began. A few feet beyond the grass line was a large area of sand. To this day I had never figured out what it was for, the only thing specifically said about it was that the teachers explicitly told us to _never_ go there, but they would never give us a reason as to why. In the distance beyond the sand was the football field, surrounded by the foot racing track. Straight up ahead was the baseball diamond. I passed it, turning from the parking lot, pulling to the right. In front of me was the tall red building that was Division High School. I had to turn to the left to ride along the side of the building.

Checking my watch again, I saw that it was 6:40. Still had twenty minutes left before breakfast even started. Even though I had eaten at home, I had planned on meeting Charlie back at the hedge. Using my ability would have burned off a lot of calories, almost more than I had consumed during breakfast. The dark silhouettes had been telling him Charlie exactly what to do, feeding him a plan with a date and time. It's amazing, the stupid things we do when we listen to the darkness inside of us. I had planned on having two breakfasts today.

I pulled to the right again, riding along the school sidewalk. Luxuriously grown grass separated me from the walls of the school. A few trees were planted here and there, their leaves spread out above them in a canopy of green. The shadows of the leaves further decorated the beautiful lawn. The sidewalk turned to the right. Two trees where planted on either side of me. I looked around. All the teachers and most of the staff had already gone inside, yet most of the students where probably still at their houses or still getting ready. Perfect. I got off my bike, taking off my bracelets. I put them on each of the handles. I tapped them both five times, and wire rods shot above me, tangling themselves in the trees. As the wire rods reeled themselves in, they lifted the bike up into the trees. If I had parked it somewhere, Charlie would know I'd already arrived. Or worse, he'd ruin my bike. Luckily my bike was camouflaged already, so it was nearly invisible in the dark blanket of leaves. I checked my watch, 6:45. There was one more thing I needed to do to kill the fifteen minutes I had left to wait.

I entered the double doors of the school, entering the main hallway. Achievement certificates, trophies, paintings, and other misc lie behind a glass case to my left. To my right were pictures of the staff members, with words like "Employee of the month" or "Principle of Division High School" written on the frames. I walked passed these objects as I walked down the large hallway. It branched off to my left, leading to the classrooms, and it continued ahead of me, leading to another set of double doors. On these doors were painted the words "Mess Hall".

The mess hall had several notable features visible to everyone right off the bat. To the left of the doors was the giant stage, the room was littered with an extensive collection of tables and benches, and the ceiling had metal bars stringed along it. From the metal bars where hung random miscellaneous thrown up there over the years. However, I was interested in the features that were _not_ visible to the general population right off the bat. To my right, a wall seemingly ended the expansion of the room. When I first joined this school I measured the width of the wall on the outside, and compared it to where this wall began inside. If it was solid all the way through than it would have been thick enough to be bullet proof. But what if it was hallow? That would be a lot of space. Up ahead in front of me, there was a wall of glass, but the bottom half was black wood. There was a small space on either side so that students could walk in, get in line, get food, and exit through the other side. I ducked behind this wall and listened. The lunch ladies where busy cooking food, at least that's what it seemed like. A few months ago, a new lunch lady had joined seemingly at random. Everyone in the entire school had acted like she had always been there. I knew that if I didn't do something, I'd have to leave again. Today was the day I executed my plan.

I allowed my mind to darken, remembering the death of my birth father. Three gunshots. Three...  
>The number seemed to envelop me. I suddenly heard whispering, and black silhouettes filled the room, as if they were here for lunch. It was just as noisy as when the school was filled with real children, except it was as if they were all whispering. There was always an infestation of these... Shadow People, as I called them, in places like schools, camps, and within people themselves. My therapist told me that these were just hallucinations caused by my schizophrenia, but schizophrenia never had the power to reveal the inner most darkest thoughts of people.<p>

I listened to the whispering, focusing my mind on the mysterious lunch lady.

_It has to be today, they are coming, we must flee! Kill her now, Kellie, and run! Hades will reward you greatly, this child cannot be allowed to understand the truth!_

Most of the time people think that their thoughts come from inside of themselves, and most of the time they are correct in thinking so. But the darkest thoughts come from the shadows. Its why since the beginning of time humans have been terrified of the darkness. This lunch lady, Kellie, was planning on taking my life? I felt like I should call the police, but what proof did I have that the lunch lady really did want to attack me? I just opened my backpack, and slipped on my red wristbands. I crawled to the rightmost wall, feeling for a trapdoor. It was disguised so well, I had trouble finding it, even to this day. I slowly opened it and crawled in. My wristbands glowed, illuminating the darkness with a red, creepy light. To my left, a dark passageway continued toward the kitchens. I walked along quietly, following the passage as it ascended upward. The floor drew closer and closer to the roof, and soon I was crawling along rather than walking. Finally, the passage ended, and I saw light coming from a vent on the side of the wall. I peered out the vent and spotted _her._

Kellie was standing in the middle of the room, ignoring the busy lunch women all around her. One of them turned toward her. "Aren't you going to help?"

Kellie looked her in the eye, maintaining a tense silence.

"Excuse me miss, we don't get paid for doing nothing." said the other woman again.

Kellie snapped her fingers and made a whistling sound. It suddenly felt like a breeze was blowing through the room, even though that was impossible, there were no windows open. The other women suddenly turned and walked away, like nothing had ever happened.

A few minutes later I was standing in front of a door. I was still in the dark passageway, but at the other side of the school, toward the double doors of the mess hall . I pushed it open, my wrists bare of all bracelets, merging into the crowd of students that were rushing through the door. I fell in line. Looking back, I saw Charlie and his thugs, somewhere in line far behind me. They looked flustered, with their hair plastered to their foreheads, gasping for air. I waved at them, grinning mischievously. When Charlie saw me, for a second I thought he might pop a vein, he looked so angry.

I stepped out of line, my tray loaded with food. I scanned the crowd. Luckily, the line was moving excruciatingly slow, so it would take forever for Charlie to catch up to me. I saw a table with an open spot. I walked over to sit down. There were a few of my fellow classmates, Thomas, Sarah, Julie, Toby, and Amy. These where the lower class among the school. Except for Amy, but Amy didn't really care who she sat with, or what group she was in. I liked Amy the most among everyone in the school. If I played my cards right, I'd get to see her next year. She had brown eyes, black hair and pale skin.

I sat down. "Sup Emilia?" Amy said.

"Nothing much, just worried about the finals" I lied.

Amy snickered. "All I know that is if I fail everyone else will flunk the class with me. I've got blockheads for teachers, but I'm not worried, if the school sees how collectively bad the class is, I hope that they'll sack the teachers and cut us some slack. Maybe that's just wishful thinking though".  
>I looked at Thomas, he had white hair and black eyes. He was wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans. He was deep in conversation with Julie.<p>

"Actually we'd be totally fine without the sun." said Thomas.

"What are you talking about?" said Julie. "The web of life is an illusion, all life on earth exists because of and is dependent upon extraterrestrial energy. The food chain and cycle of life is just a way to conserve that energy. Without the sun, the whole system fails, and we'd die."

"That's where your wrong." said Thomas. "I agree with you about how our food chain is dependent upon the sun, to a certain degree. There is no such thing as perpetual energy, eventually everything will fall victim to the heat death, if the Rapture doesn't happen before then. Our cycles of life are just reusing the suns energy, but there's another form of energy here on earth."

"And what's that?" Asked Julie.

"Our core. Extremist microbes living near hydrothermal vents in the earths crust close to the bottom of ocean, gain energy from the force of the heat coming through the floor of the ocean. Smaller fish eat those microbes, and bigger fish eat those. When the bigger fish die, they redeposit their minerals into the ground, making way for the growth of new microbes. If the sun disappeared, the life down there would continue without the sun, and honestly, would probably never know it existed in the first place."

Julie sat back, sighing. "What about how cold its going to get? And what about oxygen?"

They continued arguing, never getting angry or acting surprised, as if the conversation was one huge rhetorical game.  
>I was halfway through my lunch tray, when Sarah spoke up. "What do you mean 'if the Rapture doesn't happen before then?'.<p>

Thomas sighed. "I'd rather not start an argument about my beliefs."

Sarah continued. I looked at her, she had blonde hair and blue eyes. "Wait, your a Christian?"

Thomas put his hand on his head. "Can we not do this right now?"

Sarah shook her head. "I'm not going to fight with you, but I didn't know that Christians accepted so many science facts now a-days."

Thomas laughed. "That's what the stereotypes would suggest isn't it?"

I sat up, finished with my food. I felt energized again. Suddenly the strident sound of Charlie's voice shook our table. "Hey, Emilia, I think you still owe me and my friends a chat." Thomas gripped his fork a little harder, Amy was scowling. Sarah had her hand in her pocket, and Julie looked like she was ready to bolt. They had all faced the wrath of Charlie and his thugs. Amy used to be apart of his clique, but she left them over a month ago.

"If I'm not mistaken, I thought it hurt your social status to talk to nerds like us, Charlie" said Amy.

"Oh, I'm not talking to these losers, I'm asking Emilia to come with me." replied Charlie. My eye twitched as I saw four other people close in from the sides. They were holding trays of food.

_They better not start a food fight, not today, please not today._

I analyzed the situation. There were four options, call for help (probably wouldn't work), ask Charlie to back off (definitely wouldn't work), use the red bracelets (I'd get expelled for sure), or allow myself to get pelted. There was one other option, but I wouldn't even consider it. I could bolt, using my ability to slow down time in order to dodge food, but that would mean leaving Amy behind, and letting everyone else get pelted by messy cafeteria breakfast.

Suddenly Amy stood up. "Call it off, Char-Char." I almost laughed at the nickname.

"Or what?"

Amy raised her hand to her mouth and whistled. Several people all around the room stood up, raising their trays of food. "I've still got a few people who are loyal to me. You attack me, and I'll make sure nobody can recognize you ever again."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "It's such as shame you left my mafia, you were such a good member, one of the most popular as well."

I had had just about enough, I stood up. "Guys this is ridiculous, this is school, not war. I came here today to pass my finals, and come back next year. I don't want any part of this rivalry." With that, I got up and walked away, Amy sending Charlie death glares the whole time.

I stood outside the door of my first class. I'd be taking my math finals here. I hoped that everything I'd used to build my bracelets would come in handy in this room.

An hour and thirty minutes later, I left the room, my mind swarming with numbers and equations. I was so worried about so many different answers, but I tried to shove down the nervousness and kept walking. I followed the familiar hallways, looking for the classroom that I'd be taking my second test in, my history class.

"Miss Silverstone?" said a deep voice behind me.

I turned around. Standing there was my nature science teacher, Mr. Underwood. He had a scruffy goatee and curly brown hair. He always walked with a weird limp, but I swear to you that he was the fastest man alive. He wore a white striped polo and blue jeans. "Hello Mr. Underwood." I said.

"Are you ready for you science test later on today?"

"I sure am, your a great teacher!" I said, and I meant it. His class was one of the only that actually made since to me, he explained everything so well. Almost everyone in my class had made good grades throughout the whole term.

"Hey, I was wondering if I could talk to your mom after school about a science project." said Mr. Underwood.

Anyone else would have appeared creepy when saying this, but Mr. Underwood was a close friend of my mom. He came over every once and awhile, but he spent most of the time in our back yard, in the garden. "Alright, sure!"  
>I turned to head to the next classroom.<p>

An hour and thirty minutes later, I left the history classroom, I didn't feel too good. My stomach was spinning, I felt like I might throw up. I turned from the crowd of students heading toward the mess hall. Something was telling me that it was a bad idea to go there. I turned and headed to the woman's bathroom. I went to the nearest sink and splashed some water on my face, looking up at the mirror. In the reflection I saw the fluorescent lights, casting a green hue over the room. The lights where flickering violently, the room felt uncharacteristically cold. I knew what was about to happen, this was a part of my schizophrenia, this was the curse that came along with the gift. I became lightheaded and fell to the ground. Suddenly I saw something in front of me, whispering.

_Come here..._ it said. I backed away quickly, scrambling backwards until I was against the wall. The room was filled with whispering. A silhouette walked through the wall to my left and walked through the room. My heart was hammering against my chest, my throat was seizing up on me. I was sweating despite the cold. I stood up. I needed to run, to get out of here. The silhouette passed through the wall opposite of which it had emerged. I took a step forward, shaking uncontrollably. _Pull yourself together Emilia_ I scolded myself. I never got scared this way. But this wasn't normal fear, this was raw emotion without a cause. Seriously, whats so scary about shadow people? But the fact was they weren't normal people, and I was scared out of my mind. I broke into a run, sprinting out of the bathroom. I almost didn't noticed the concerned looks I was getting from random passerby.

_Why can't you just die Emilia?_ said a voice behind me.

"Shut up!" I screamed, taking off my backpack and taking out my red bracelets and slipping them on. No, I couldn't use those on these creatures, fear was frying my mind, throwing all logic out the window. I needed to get somewhere where the infestation of these shadows wasn't so dense. I didn't see where I was going, I felt. I noticed every once and awhile I passed an "employee's only" sign. I felt bad about breaking the rules but I had no choice. The whispering started again, and images of a black void flashed in my mind. Different things where flashing. A boy with black eyes, holding a black sword. A red landscape, filled with hideous and grotesque creatures. My breathing became rapid, I felt like I was running out of air. More and more images flashed in my mind. The sea swallowing entire cities. A throne room comprised of twelve enormous chairs. A sparkling pen on the ground, blood littering the floor it was resting on. The images kept getting worse and worse. This was the most intense my schizophrenia had been in years. I felt my legs running up stairs, not feeling the fatigue of climbing due to the copious amounts of adrenaline coursing through my frame. More images: A camp, I was standing on the crest of a hill. To my left was a large house, it was completely white. Beyond that was a strawberry field, even further to the left, and yet further in the distance was a forest. Directly in front of me was a lake, and just beyond that I saw a few torches, lighting up the darkness. It seemed they where coming toward me, piercing the landscape and bleaching it white. I was barely able to make out a cabin, before the luminescence of the torches overwhelmed the scenery.

I burst through some doors, panting. Sunlight slammed into me, I had to squint. The whispering stopped and I collapsed, my lungs screaming. As my eyes adjusted, I saw a boy, standing a few feet in front of me. I recognized where I was. It was the roof. The boy was standing on the edge, facing me, his arms crossed.

"Who are you?" he asked. I stood up, looking around. We were really high up. The boy had blonde hair and green eyes. They were bloodshot, like he'd been crying.

"My name is Emilia". I said, looking over my shoulder at the doorway that had taken me to the rooftops.

"I'm Dylan," he said, turning away from me and facing the edge of the building again. "It's better if you weren't here right now" he said, an air of sadness in his voice.

"How come?" I said.

"Because I hate it when people ask me questions" he said, and I flinched. I'd already asked a question. What else was there to do? How do you start a conversation without asking a question?

"I can't go back, it's hard to explain" I said. A statement was better than a question.

"I can understand that. I actually don't care if you ask me questions as long as you tell me two things first." He was looking down from the ledge down on the streets below. One thing was for certain, this kid did not have a fear of heights.  
>I decided to tell him why I couldn't go back, so I could ask him a question. "I've got this condition where I can see things, it scares me though. So, why are you here?"<p>

"That's a long story. It started last month".

"You really should be getting some lunch right about now," I said, "they close mess hall in a few minutes".

"So should you" he said.

"I'm not hungry".

"Neither am I."

I stood up. A warm breeze was blowing, it felt good against my forehead, warming up my ice cold hands and ears. "It's a beautiful day" I said.

"I used to love beautiful days" he said. The words made me feel sad.

"Why don't you still?" I asked, having fulfilled my two statements.

"Because," he said, turning back toward the edge, "a nice day is just the silence before the storm." I was about to say something again, because I was desperate to ask him another question, but then he turned back. "Have you ever wondered about what happens to us when we die?" he said.

I was incredulous. "All the time!" I blurted out.

"Have you ever wondered if there might be something afterwards?" he said, his voice breaking.

I remembered my birth dad. Three gunshots, screaming. I remembered my foster dad. Three gunshots. I slumped over, sitting down. The memories were too painful. The boy looked away. "I'm sorry, this is why I hate when people ask me questions, I understand how you feel. A few weeks ago, my sister died. Before that, we lived in a foster home, our caretakers were abusive, and our real parents where murderers in jail. I hate talking about it, my sister was all I had left in this world. I wonder if I'll truly ever see her again. Every day, at this time, I skip a meal and come up here to think about her. Sometimes I wonder, if I just jumped, maybe I'd see her again."

I looked up. "My dad died when I was three, then I was adopted by loving foster parents, but then my foster dad was also murdered in the exact same way. I wonder if the whole thing was planned".

"I'm sorry" he said. "I guess we both know what this feels like then".

I walked over to him. I held out my hand. "Why don't we be friends? I think you need one".

He shook my hand. "I'll see you again" he said, walking past me, but when I turned around, he was gone.

Did I just imagine the whole thing? There's no way he could have run that fast back into the doorway. Or was there? However I was interrupted from my thoughts as something else came from the stairs, at first I thought it was a teacher. But no, it definitely wasn't a teacher.

Her obsidian eyes gazed into mine. She wore a white apron and a hat to conceal her hair, if she had any. Typical lunch lady uniform. Except for the fact the shadows clang to her, like she was their loving mother. She took off her hat to reveal long, red hair. She walked toward me, one step sounding oddly cloven, and the other sounding metallic. She dropped her apron and revealed her legs, one was machine, the other was a goat leg. I started to wonder if somebody had poisoned my cafeteria breakfast, but somehow I wasn't surprised by this lunch lady's appearance. It seemed familiar in a way that I couldn't explain, something dark and cold, like a wet rag left in the winter wind.

"I knew I would have to kill you eventually, Emilia. I didn't know where to do it, it would be better if no mortals where around to witness it. There's no place like that here, so the next best thing would have been a crowd. I was planning on the mess hall earlier today, stage a little accident and let Charlie take the glory, but you made things so much easier by coming up here" she said, her voice dripping with malice.

I put my hands behind my back. "You know murder is against the law, right?" I said.

"Not the law I abide by" replied the weird goat-machine-women. "You see, the punishment for not killing you has is far greater than one I may receive for actually killing you, dearest Emilia. Perhaps I should introduce myse-"

"There's no need for that, Kelli" I said, remembering what the shadows had called her. "I know why you need to kill me, I know how you plan on doing it, and I know who's going to fire you if you fail. Who is this Hades, may I ask?" I said, throwing this 'Kelli' completely off guard.

"How in Tartarus could you know my nickname...? It doesn't matter, even if you disturb me, there's no chance of you escaping this alive" she informed me, talons extending from her hands. They struck a chord in me, I'd seen them before. When I was twelve years old, I'd seen somebody exactly like this, the resemblance was almost eerie.

"Wait, I've seen you before, or somebody just like you..." I said, beside myself with morbid curiosity. Though it had haunted my dreams, I had always been oddly interested at what had really happened at that school, the name of which still gave me chills. "But she had blonde hair, and she was definitely fatter".

The monster gasped. "You've seen my sister Tammi?! What happened to her... Oh, of course, you must have killed her... That's what you demigods do... She was all I had left, it'll take her years to reform now that Tartarus is pissed off... She'll be all alone down there." the monster looked down, her head casting a shadow over her face. I could see tears falling and splattering on the ground. I felt bad about what I had done, even though the girl I had killed wasn't human, she didn't die like normal people, she'd burst into sand. And she had beaten me nearly unconscious, I was on deaths door. Somehow I felt remorse for it, but I didn't know why. Obviously it was justified, this monster said her sister would come back, and it was okay to hurt people if they where threatening your life, wasn't it?

I felt my world tumbling to pieces. My morals seemed to leave me, in the dark, alone, without a guide. "Your sister tried to kill me..."

"Your death would have been a blessing! We have to follow orders, or we get tortured, sometimes not being able to die is a horrible gift to grant, Emilia! You probably would have gotten rebirth, void of all memories of pain and suffering. Maybe you'd even be reborn as a mortal, fall in love, start a life..."

I was crying too. If I wanted to protect anyone I cared about, Amy, Thomas, Sarah... My mom. If I wanted to save my own life, I'd have to attack Kelli. I'd built the bracelets I was wearing with determination and conviction that I'd destroy any monster I'd see the second I saw it, absolutely hellbent on not moving away again. Now that I looked at Kelli, the murder in her eyes, the sorrow written in the form of tear stains on her cheeks, the way she unstably walked toward me like some sort of nightmarish abomination, I wondered if I really had what it took.

Something inside of me broke, I don't know what it was, but it caused me to look up. "I don't know what good and evil is, but I guess when it comes to staying alive, when it comes to getting what we want, all of us are monsters".

I lifted my right hand toward Kelli, tapping the bracelet three times. The number felt like acid, but I produced it with ease in the form of my tapping fingers.

The bracelet transformed into a long sword, but it was light enough to hold with one hand. It was red, but the sharp edge was coated with a shinning bronze pant. My other bracelet reacted as well, causing a tiny gun barrel to rise up out of the center at the top.

Kelli stopped in the tracks. "Where did you get that paint?" she asked.

"I melted down a dagger I'd found at the school where I met your sister" I said, remembering the occasion. I'd finally managed to kill the monster I'd faced at that school by using a strange glinting dagger that was left on one of the teacher's desk. I figured the material in the dagger was the key to defeating people like her.

"Maybe if we where different people, I'd actually like your determination, but only one of us is leaving this rooftop." Kellie exclaimed.

"At least we can agree on that." I said.

Kellie ran at me, talons swiping the air. I blocked them with my sword and exhaled deeply. Time slowed down. Before Kelli could react, I ducked down under her swinging arm, pointing my left hand at her ribcage and tapping the bracelet twice. Foil strings shot out, dozens of them launched from the gun barrel, then, as they stuck to Kelli's clothing the foils where charged with enough electricity to kill ten people. Kellie screamed for a few seconds before blacking out. I stood up, time regaining it's momentum again. I rose my sword. I felt like I was wrestling with my self to bring it down. _She isn't human, bring the sword down_ argued one side of my mind. _Is this really the only way, killing her and sending her to whatever happens next for her?_ I felt like I was at war with myself, and the casualties where mounting in number. Finally, a dormant part of my mind spoke up. _Avenge your father__._ With that, I brought the sword down and Kelli exploded into dust, spraying me with the particles. I fell to my knees crying. I heard somebody run onto the roof, it was Mr. Underwood. He saw me, and my sword, and the dust. He walked over to me and crouched down, holding my shoulders. I looked into his eyes. He was too young to be a teacher, but I was starting to doubt whether or not he was human either.

"How much do you know?" he asked.

"Why do monsters have to obey Hades?" I asked, my voice cracking.

He pulled me into a hug. It felt almost fatherly, awakening an emotion that had passed out of existence when my foster dad had passed away. "I don't know, Emilia. I need to get you back home, it isn't safe here". I recoiled at the statement, desperation crawling into my throat. "No! I can't move away! Not again! That's what this was all about! Don't tell me this was for nothing! How am I not safe here?! I was fighting for my friends!".

"Emilia, that's not what I mean. It's not safe anywhere in the world, there's only one place safe for any of us now. We need to get you home immediately."

"But what about the finals? What about my friends! What is going on, Mr. Underwood!?" I exclaimed.

"There isn't any time, call your mom now, while calling is still safe, and please, call me Grover" he said, turning towards the door.

_The first wound is raw, it hurts the most, especially when we don't see it coming._  
>The pain is hard to ignore, but over time it dulls out and becomes apart of you. If it happens again, it becomes mundane, until you forget how it made you feel the first time. The more you hold on to in life, the harder it will hurt when you lose it all, and the more it hurts, the less willing you are to give up defending the ones you love.<p>

**I'm sorry this took so long to get out here. This was an extremely powerful writers block for me, I had to keep fiddling with this chapter, removing entire paragraphs, and in fact once or times rewriting the whole chapter. I apologies for any spelling errors, you may notice that I treat text inside of "'s strangely, putting the period on the outside, but that is on purpose, as I have not found a consistent standard for it yet. The next chapter will come on sooner, but until then, stay tuned :3.**


End file.
